By kei
Akiba Interactive Review: Canon’s 5D Mark II AF Test (Beta Version)
After publishing yesterday’s ISO test, today we’re focusing on… Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II Auto-Focus!
Those familiar with Canon’s first generation EOS 5D probably know the AF was too rough at times, missing pictures shot with a maximum aperture. When we saw the 5D Mark II’s specifications, we were a bit doubtful concerning this point… To be sure, David decided to test the beast with a 135mm lens at 2.0 maximum aperture. Also note weather conditions were horrible (under heavy rain) with pictures taken without a tripod, definitely not perfect conditions.
For this series, David shot the pictures changing the Auto Focus point for each shot (9 are available, but David used only 7) … focusing on the bicycle bell.
Conclusion
The 5D Mark II doesn’t seem to suffer from Auto Focus imprecision, but it’s not as responsive as the Mark III 1D, with some difficulties if the photographer or subject is moving.
Akiba Interactive Review: Canon’s 5D Mark II AF Test (Beta Version): sample here
(96 votes)
6 Comments
Related Articles
- - Canon 5D Mark II, Visiting Akihabara (October 22nd,2008 at 4:07 PM)
- - Live From Tokyo: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Officially Official!!!!! (September 16th,2008 at 11:09 PM)
- - Akiba Interactive Review: Cannon's 5D Mark II (beta) RAW Pictures by Night (October 23rd,2008 at 6:15 PM)
- - Akiba Interactive Review: Bump Up the ISO by Night with Canon's 5D Mark II (October 21st,2008 at 7:42 PM)
- - Canon 5D Mark II Unboxing!! (October 20th,2008 at 6:35 PM)
Thanks for doing the AF test. I’m a bit unsure what the verdict means though. I get that the AF is not as good as the 1dMkIII (didn’t expect it to be) but not sure if its better or worse than the 5d or 20/30/40/50d when the subject is moving. Do you have any way to quantify your statement “got some difficulties to follow if the photographer or the subject is moving.” ? Is that for all focus points or just the outer?
Thanks for the test.
I have a further suggestion for you to test.
Canon AF has not been the best under following conditions:
– lens wide open (f1.
– low light
– high ISO (ISO 6400)
– low contrast in the scene
Under these conditions, the AF may often ‘hunt’ and fail to lock or then misfocus.
Please consider testing under low light conditions (no subject under spot light) @ wide open and at high ISO.
Agreed, what is your verdict over the 5d? i think that’s the main question people are wondering
We will come to that later (with a shot by shot comparison)
What about the video mode? Could you comment on the level of manual settings available in this camera?
Matt_K -> no sorry we don’t have it, because if the camera can’t make point… it don’t shoot…
For this we have just try with the center point. But it’s not a big deal… it’s just little bit difficult to follow.
halc -> we will try.
IppikiOkami -> we make the comparative 5D VS 5D Mark II today.
tenshi -> for now everything in video mode is automatic, we can juste change exposure bracketing (and the focus is manual)… but remember it’s an beta version of firmware, and Canon toll us that the video mode will be better on final version. So we hope they will put more manual settings.